Duwayne Bridges files complaint against Randy Hinshaw
From AL.com:
A Republican House member whose electronic voting machine was voted in his absence last week by a Madison County Democrat filed a formal complaint Tuesday with the House clerk.
Rep. Duwayne Bridges, R-Valley, said he was on a job recruitment trip to China and Korea when the House passed a proposed constitutional amendment to remove the state sales tax on groceries.
Bridges said he opposed the measure, even though the record showed him as voting for it.
House Minority Leader Mike Hubbard, R-Auburn, identified Rep. Randy Hinshaw, D-Meridianville, as voting Bridges’ machine.
On Tuesday, Bridges filed a dissent with House Clerk Greg Pappas, noting his opposition to the bill on the House’s official journal.
Good for Bridges. Hinshaw’s actions were reprehensible and he effectively disenfranchised the citizens who elected Bridges, not Hinshaw, to represent them.
Here’s the analogy I like to use for this story…
Imagine it’s summer and Hinshaw’s neighbors on either side of his house are taking a vacation. The neighbor to his left, we’ll call him Richard, asks Hinshaw to watch his house for him while he is out of town. Hinshaw agrees to feed the dog, bring in the paper, etc. The other neighbor, we’ll call him Duwayne, does not ask Hinshaw to watch his house. A couple of days into his vacation Duwayne realizes that he forgot to lock his front door. He’s only in Guntersville so he decides to make a quick trip home to lock up. Upon arriving at his home he notices that someone has been eating his food and leaving potato chip crumbs all over his recliner. He hears some splashing outside and goes into the backyard and finds his neighbor, state representative Randy Hinshaw, doing a cannonball in his pool.
In the real world Duwayne could call the police and have charges pressed against Hinshaw for his actions. However in the Alabama legislature people like Hinshaw gloat about their unethical behavior and thumb their collective noses at the people of Alabama because they don’t think we’ll do anything about it. I hope voters take notice.
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How many incumbents can you recall being voted out of office by their constituents? Most of Hinshaw’s district is probably gloating with him because he brings home the bacon. That’s why we have so many sorry legislators making a career out of it.
Bridges was elected to serve the people in his district as their representative in Montgomery.
He should have been in Montgomery when the legislature was in session, not in Korea on a jaunt. If he had been on the job, this couldn’t have happened.
If the Korean trip was necessary, it should have been scheduled when the legislature wasn’t in session.
Too many of these politicians are skipping work to follow their own interests and pleasures.
Working people, those who are lucky enough to still have a job, have to show up every day, or bring a doctor’s excuse.
Why should elected officials be any different?
In the real world, people who don’t show up for work lose their jobs.
By the way, that vacation story makes less sense that Bridges attempts to block the repeal of sales tax on groceries.
Leonidas,
I appreciate your thoughts on those who don’t show up for work. I assume you apply the same logic to double dippers.
Bridges was not “skipping work to follow [his] own interests and pleasures.” He was on a job recruitment trip – a trip intended to help bring jobs to Alabama. Should he have scheduled it for a different time of year. I would say yes, but I’m not privy to the complexities of scheduling such a trip.
Name one job that was recruited on this trip.
This was a social visit pure an simple, to the companies who are already pledged to relocate in Alabama.
As far as applying the same logic to double-dippers, by all means, it should be done. To the double-dippers, the ones who hire their kinfolks and girlfriends, and their attendance records should be posted in hometown newspapers.
Too many of these legislators regard their positions as just a part-time job. This is 2008, not 1908. Alabama’s business is such that the legislature should meet year round.
Even better, today’s technology is such that we could get by without elected representatives. We could phone it in.
Ya’ll have absolutely NO IDEA the type of person Rep. DuWayne Bridges is OR any of his family!!! I think you need to REALLY do some research and then you’ll get your answers!!!
Save us the trouble and lay it out there. Innuendo is meaningless.